How to make your marketing stand out

Bob Maddams

We are constantly being bombarded with branded messages offline and online, in the high street and on our mobile phones.

And we’re told that the average person in the UK sees over 200 selling messages of one kind or another every day.

Now, more than ever, it’s vital to stand out from the crowd, otherwise your message will simply be ignored.

This calls for creativity, and the good news is that there are creative communications tactics and techniques that any business can use to help them stand out and get noticed.

What’s in it for me?

The first question anyone asks when they see a marketing message is, what’s in it for me? But still many messages ignore this all-important rule by talking about the company or the product rather than what the company or the product can do for the customer. Make your message a strong proposition and you’ll win a lot more attention.

Demonstration

Can your product or service be demonstrated? Or can its benefit be demonstrated? If so, a demonstration is a very powerful way of standing out from the crowd. It’s also a highly convincing way to tell a sales story.

Be single minded

Your customer will have only one impression about who you are and what you do. You need to shape that impression by being consistent in your messaging. You can’t be all things to all consumers, you have to be one thing and one thing only. Decide what that is and stick to it in all your marketing communications, because less confusion means greater clarity, and greater clarity means stronger standout.

Pictures with headlines

Make you headlines and visuals work together and not simply repeat each other. Too many headlines are simply captions to pictures that don’t add anything to what the visual is already saying. But when your headline says something more, or adds relevant information to the visual, the communication becomes a lot more compelling.

Honesty is the best policy

In the battle to stand out many marketers make the mistake of over-claiming or exaggerating. This will only create dissatisfaction and prompt bad word of mouth. Far better to accentuate the positives of what you have to offer. This will also build trust. Remember, there’s no such thing as the perfect product. People buy products that are right for them.

Bob Maddams is the founder of Brighton-based Gooroo Communications. He led a Brighton Chamber Bite-sized Learning session on standout creativity in July. For more information about Brighton Chamber networking and training events, visit: {http://www.businessinbrighton.org.uk|www.businessinbrighton.org.uk

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